FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BoBo]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

[02 Warhawk]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

What happened on the kickoff?

[emma17]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

Agreed. That field goal was a big deal.

[BoBo]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

What happened on the kickoff?

The Wheaton return guy, took the kick a few yards deep in the far side (UWW side) of the EZ by the sidelines and decided to run it out by running, not straight up field, but laterally toward his near sidelines (the Wheaton side) where his return was set to go. He had a long way to run, too long. It was a poor decision on his part as two Warhawks met him at the 4 yard line and took him down. The defense forced a punt (Wheaton's Achilles heal) and it was partially blocked. Bachar drilled a 46 yard FG after Nelson got him in position with a nice run with :01 on the clock, UWW 31 Wheaton 14 going into half.

[bleedpurple]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

What happened on the kickoff?

The Wheaton return guy, took the kick a few yards deep in the far side (UWW side) of the EZ by the sidelines and decided to run it out by running, not straight up field, but laterally toward his near sidelines (the Wheaton side) where his return was set to go. He had a long way to run, too long. It was a poor decision on his part as two Warhawks met him at the 4 yard line and took him down. The defense forced a punt (Wheaton's Achilles heal) and it was partially blocked. Bachar drilled a 46 yard FG after Nelson got him in position with a nice run with :01 on the clock, UWW 31 Wheaton 14 going into half.

Plus Wheaton made a huge mistake in not running out the clock once they had the ball at the four. UW-W would have let them. But they attempted to pass, thinking they could score I guess. UW-W made a good decision to stop the clock and force the punt. But Wheaton's decision helped out a bunch.

[emma17]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

What happened on the kickoff?

The Wheaton return guy, took the kick a few yards deep in the far side (UWW side) of the EZ by the sidelines and decided to run it out by running, not straight up field, but laterally toward his near sidelines (the Wheaton side) where his return was set to go. He had a long way to run, too long. It was a poor decision on his part as two Warhawks met him at the 4 yard line and took him down. The defense forced a punt (Wheaton's Achilles heal) and it was partially blocked. Bachar drilled a 46 yard FG after Nelson got him in position with a nice run with :01 on the clock, UWW 31 Wheaton 14 going into half.

Plus Wheaton made a huge mistake in not running out the clock once they had the ball at the four. UW-W would have let them. But they attempted to pass, thinking they could score I guess. UW-W made a good decision to stop the clock and force the punt. But Wheaton's decision helped out a bunch.

Absolutely, a great decision by coach Bullis to call the time out w about 28 seconds left. 

[emma17]

An excellent performance by the UWW players and coaching staff today.
As coach Bullis said in the postgame interview, the game also provided a few additional coaching points to focus on for next week. 
Some thoughts:
-This offense is vastly different than the one that played UWP and UWO.  Coach Smith has done a great job.
-Nelson has developed tremendously and is also doing a great job.  He did many little things today that made a big difference.
-The D did a great job recognizing plays as the game developed.  There were a couple screen attempts in the second half that looked like UWW must have been given the play call.  Smart play by the D line.
-#23 for Wheaton is a very good running back with strength.  I was a bit surprised with the number of missed tackles on him, it may simply be that he is stronger than RB's faced previously.
-UWW didn't score in the second half.  They had their chances in the third quarter, but Wheaton stepped up.  The UWW offense in the fourth quarter went into run the clock mode and there literally was no attempt to score.  The offense lost all momentum as they waited at the LOS watching the play clock tick down.  I know some fans were a bit disappointed with such a conservative approach.  I see both sides to the approach.
-My one complaint is that Ratliffe was not substituted. He is an absolute stud and workhorse I know.  But his value is too great to risk with so many obvious run calls in the 4th quarter.  In addition, I felt a change of pace back might have provided some additional challenges for Wheaton.  Especially after the long run he had on the 3rd and a mile.  I believe he fumbled at the goal line shortly after that run. 
-Wheaton College seemed unprepared for the turnout.  Many, many fans were in line waiting for tickets as the first quarter was being played. 
-No room on the visitor's side and the visitor stands were smaller than most high schools I've been to. 
-The group of Wheaton's shirtless fans at the front row of the stands... I'll just say I'm blown away given the type of student Wheaton recruits.  I'll have to remember to pay attention to UWW student fans next year, maybe they behave the same way. 

[D O.C.]

Justin and AJ would remember LINFIELD's  Rutschman Field House fondly.

It's pretty good size.

[BoBo]

An excellent performance by the UWW players and coaching staff today.
As coach Bullis said in the postgame interview, the game also provided a few additional coaching points to focus on for next week. 
Some thoughts:
-This offense is vastly different than the one that played UWP and UWO.  Coach Smith has done a great job.
This offense has seen a remarkable transformation over the course of this season despite all the injuries that WW has faced.
-Nelson has developed tremendously and is also doing a great job.  He did many little things today that made a big difference.
Possibly the chief reason why the offense is vastly different from early in the season. Having confidence completely changes things. He's really clicking at the moment. It seems like the few incompletions he's getting are usually drops - he's been very accurate and efficient.
-The D did a great job recognizing plays as the game developed.  There were a couple screen attempts in the second half that looked like UWW must have been given the play call.  Smart play by the D line.
Wheaton's QB did telegraph his intentions pretty much. Surprised he didn't run more often as some running lanes were there and his o-line was losing the battle at the LOS to the WW front. WW was usually only rushing 4 with zone blitzes. DB's started to recognize Wheaton's WR routes better in second half and the WW LB's were getter good depth in their coverages, too, shutting down the routes over the middle that were successful in the first half. Thunder QB threw for a lot of yards with barely over 50% completion rate. Most of those yards came in desperation time and in the middle of the field.
-#23 for Wheaton is a very good running back with strength.  I was a bit surprised with the number of missed tackles on him, it may simply be that he is stronger than RB's faced previously.
-UWW didn't score in the second half.  They had their chances in the third quarter, but Wheaton stepped up.  The UWW offense in the fourth quarter went into run the clock mode and there literally was no attempt to score.  The offense lost all momentum as they waited at the LOS watching the play clock tick down.  I know some fans were a bit disappointed with such a conservative approach.  I see both sides to the approach.
4th and 1 at the 16 and not getting first down; fumble on the 3 after getting 53 yard rush on 3rd and 24.
-My one complaint is that Ratliffe was not substituted. He is an absolute stud and workhorse I know.  But his value is too great to risk with so many obvious run calls in the 4th quarter.  In addition, I felt a change of pace back might have provided some additional challenges for Wheaton.  Especially after the long run he had on the 3rd and a mile.  I believe he fumbled at the goal line shortly after that run.
Yes, he rushed for -2 then fumbled on the next play. If Dennis Moore was available, I bet we would have seen him replace JRat after his first fumble in the opening quarter. With two freshman backups (Glass and Ware), Nick Patterson seem to be the natural sub, but not on the goal line. A power back like Glass in the situation, would appear to be a good choice. Even Ware to take the ball inside or out seemed like a good bet, too. Didn't you just know WW would run it on 3rd and 24 - caught Wheaton completely off guard. I guess they didn't watch enough film.
-Wheaton College seemed unprepared for the turnout.  Many, many fans were in line waiting for tickets as the first quarter was being played. 
-No room on the visitor's side and the visitor stands were smaller than most high schools I've been to.
Many fans were standing around, lining the track since the small bleachers there were pretty full. Looking at them on the stream, it appeared not all were WW fans. Saw a lot of kids in what looked to be red colored HS Letterman's jackets.  
-The group of Wheaton's shirtless fans at the front row of the stands... I'll just say I'm blown away given the type of student Wheaton recruits.  I'll have to remember to pay attention to UWW student fans next year, maybe they behave the same way.
Haven't heard anybody complain about the WW students in a few years. Maybe retagent has decided to stay away from the Perk recently.

[GoPerry]

Didn't catch the 1st three quarters, but looks like uww had their way with them in the first half.  192 for Ratliffe!

Getting the FG with :01 remaining the second qtr. that came following the Wheaton mistake on the previous kickoff was a key moment. A three score game heading into the second half seemed at the time and turned out to be, too big to overcome for Wheaton.

What happened on the kickoff?

The Wheaton return guy, took the kick a few yards deep in the far side (UWW side) of the EZ by the sidelines and decided to run it out by running, not straight up field, but laterally toward his near sidelines (the Wheaton side) where his return was set to go. He had a long way to run, too long. It was a poor decision on his part as two Warhawks met him at the 4 yard line and took him down. The defense forced a punt (Wheaton's Achilles heal) and it was partially blocked. Bachar drilled a 46 yard FG after Nelson got him in position with a nice run with :01 on the clock, UWW 31 Wheaton 14 going into half.

Plus Wheaton made a huge mistake in not running out the clock once they had the ball at the four. UW-W would have let them. But they attempted to pass, thinking they could score I guess. UW-W made a good decision to stop the clock and force the punt. But Wheaton's decision helped out a bunch.

Yeah.  That one did hurt I think.  I'm really not sure about that play calling with a minute left.  After that first screen pass for a first down, Wheaton from their own 20 yd line continued to pass resulting in 2 incompletions and a penalty that stopped the clock and then had to punt giving the ball back with WW having all their TOs remaining.  Perhaps the Wheaton coaches were thinking that the last drive only took barely a minute to go 75 yards and score a touchdown so maybe we could do it again(and get the ball to start the 2nd half)?   But then why were they throwing to 5 yd sideline patterns?  Even after the partially blocked punt, I thought we were going to get bailed out by the WW holding penalty backing them up, but that was a nice run by Nelson to get them back into range.

Only 3 points, but still . . .

[BoBo]

For those interested, Morningside (12-1) crushed Tabor College (Kansas - had to look it up since I never heard of the school) 51-7 to advance to the NAIA Championship Series Semifinals, hosting reigning NAIA NC Southern Oregon (10-2) in the NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinals next week. Marian plays St. Francis in the opposite S-F. It would be awesome for WW and MornColl to make it to their respective NC games...and come out victorious. I think they play each other again early next season in WW.

[doolittledog]

For those interested, Morningside (12-1) crushed Tabor College (Kansas - had to look it up since I never heard of the school) 51-7 to advance to the NAIA Championship Series Semifinals, hosting reigning NAIA NC Southern Oregon (10-2) in the NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinals next week. Marian plays St. Francis in the opposite S-F. It would be awesome for WW and MornColl to make it to their respective NC games...and come out victorious. I think they play each other again early next season in WW.

That would go against the NAIA talking points that UWW was clearly the best D3 team in the country, while Morningside was actually barely a top 10 team 

[BoBo]

According to the St. Paul @pioneerpress, former UWW Offensive Coordinator Jim Zebrowski, who was QB coach for the Gophers along with Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover have been let go (fired?) after 5-7 season.

UW-Eau Claire!! Did you hear that?

STORY:  http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers/2015/11/29/gophers-football-limegrover-and-zebrowski-let-go/

[badgerwarhawk]

Zembrowski will land at another D1 school.  He's just too good of a coach not to.

[ExTartanPlayer]

For those interested, Morningside (12-1) crushed Tabor College (Kansas - had to look it up since I never heard of the school) 51-7 to advance to the NAIA Championship Series Semifinals, hosting reigning NAIA NC Southern Oregon (10-2) in the NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinals next week. Marian plays St. Francis in the opposite S-F. It would be awesome for WW and MornColl to make it to their respective NC games...and come out victorious. I think they play each other again early next season in WW.

That would go against the NAIA talking points that UWW was clearly the best D3 team in the country, while Morningside was actually barely a top 10 team 

Applause.